Saturday, February 1, 2014

Wild Mexican Wolf Population Up from 2012

An annual survey
by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) found that 83 Mexican
gray wolves (a.k.a. lobos) and 5 breeding pairs call the wild landscape
of Arizona and New Mexico home. This number demonstrates a 10% increase
in the wild lobo population compared to the 2012 population count of
75.

Good news but work remains to be done.

Some History: Mexican Gray Wolf's Brush with Extinction
In
the late 1800s, perhaps not realizing the ecological consequences,
there was a national movement to eradicate wolves and other large
predators from the wild landscape in the United States. Wolves were
trapped, shot, and poisoned. Bounties were paid. By the mid-1900s, wild
Mexican wolves had been effectively exterminated in North America.

With
the only lobos remaining in captivity, the Mexican wolf was listed by
the USFWS as an endangered species in 1976. The Endangered Species Act
requires the USFWS to develop and implement recovery plans for listed
species with the objective to restore species to secure population
levels, maintain those levels, and then remove them from the endangered
list. Shortly after listing Mexican wolves as endangered, USFWS
collaborated with Mexico to capture all Mexican wolves remaining in the
wild. Five wild Mexican wolves (four males and one pregnant female)
were captured alive in Mexico from 1977 to 1980, and these wolves were
transferred to the United States to establish a certified captive
breeding program. The objective of the plan includes the following:

“To
conserve and ensure the survival of C. l. baileyi by maintaining a
captive breeding program and re-establishing a viable, self-sustaining
population of at least 100 Mexican wolves in the middle to high
elevations of a 5,000-square mile area within the Mexican wolf’s
historic range.”

(photo: OnEarth Magazine)

Captive-to-Wild Release Events
Mexican
wolf reintroduction efforts began on March 28, 1998 when 11
captive-reared Mexican gray were released to the wild for the first time
in the Blue Range Recovery Area – just a small portion of their
ancestral home in the wild southwest. Because the entire existing
Mexican wolf population is derived from such a limited founding
population, genetic health is the primary consideration governing both
captive reproductive pairings and captive-to-wild release events. These
decisions are prioritized to maintain or increase gene diversity through
considerations of mean kinship, avoidance of inbreeding, and the degree
of uncertainty within a pedigree.

Recovery Challenges
It’s
is within the Blue Range Recovery Area that Mexican wolves have
struggled for a decade and a half, failing to ever reach the initial
population goal of 100, and far from reaching the population goal
recommended by the current Mexican Wolf Recovery Team’s Science and
Planning Subgroup (SPS). The SPS team, scientists appointed by the USFWS
Regional Director for their recognized expertise in scientific
disciplines relevant to Mexican wolf recovery, recommend that a minimum
of three, naturally connected subpopulations of at least 200 individuals
each comprising a metapopulation of at least 750 wolves, are essential
to the survival and recovery of Mexican gray wolves in the wild.

Celebrate Briefly and Get Back to Work
So
while we celebrate news that the estimated wild lobo population did
increase from 75 to 83, we have a long way to go until this keystone
species is recovered. Artificial boundaries, state politics, illegal
killings and USFWS's designation of all wild lobos as an “experimental,
nonessential” population, continue to put recovery in a choke-hold.
With an estimated population of 83, the Mexican wolf remains one of
North America’s most endangered mammals.

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About Us

Located in South Salem, NY, the Wolf Conservation Center (www.nywolf.org) exists to educate people about wolves and their valuable role in the environment, and to help protect their future in the wild. The WCC is home to ambassador wolves that visitors can observe in spacious natural enclosures. We also have over 20 wolves as part of our participation in Species Survival Plans for critically endangered Mexican Gray Wolves and Red Wolves. To learn more about us or to arrange a visit, please go to our website and follow us on Facebook. Questions about the blog? Email us at nywolf.org@gmail.com